1. Sucking and Gall-Forming Insects

2. Sucking Insects Mouthparts pierce plant tissue and draw out fluid
Importance:
Usually low in forests
Overuse of pesticides can incite damaging infestations
Some deadly exotics in U.S.
Some vector plant disease
Often favor young succulent growth, high in nitrogen

3. Sucking insects: wide diversity
Scales
Lacebugs
Adelgids
Spittlebugs
Thrips
Mealybugs
Thrips
Tree/leaf- hoppers
Aphids
Whiteflies

4. Sucking Insects: possible signs and symptoms
Honeydew
sooty mold
Ants

5. Sucking Insects: possible signs and symptoms
Wooly ash aphid
Curled, discolored, and/or distorted foliage
Pink hibiscus mealybug
Thrips “stippling” on sweetgum

6. Sucking Insects: possible signs and symptoms
Waxy or cottony masses or coatings
Woolly pine scale
Asian wooly hackberry aphid
Flatid planthopper excretion
Pine bark adelgid

7. Sucking Insects: possible signs and symptoms
Twig and branch dieback
Kermes scale

8. Aphids Crapemyrtle Aphid Asian Wooly Hackberry Aphid Oleander Aphid
Giant Bark Aphid

9. Scales Tuliptree scale Scale “crawler” Oak Lecanium Scale
Holly Pit Scale
Florida Wax Scale
Pine Needle Scale

10. Sycamore Lace Bug

11. Damaging Exotic Sucking Insects in Florida
Pick Hibiscus Mealybug
Lobate Lac Scale

12. Hemlock Woolly Adelgid An exotic eliminating eastern hemlocks

13. Factors that influence occurrence & impact: sucking insects
Young succulent tissue
Enhanced nutrient levels
Overuse of broad-spectrum insecticides

14. Management: sucking insects
Do nothing (let natural enemies do the job)
Inspect for evidence of ladybugs, lacewings, other natural enemies
Hard jet of water (periodic, safe on natural enemies)
Insecticidal Soaps (e.g., Safer’s, M-Pede,homemade)
Disrupts cuticle, must cover pest, target scale crawlers
Horticultural oils (e.g., SunSpray Ultra-fine oil)
Act by suffocation, must cover pest, target scale crawlers
Systemic Insecticides (e.g. Imidacloprid)
as root drench, trunk injection

15. Galls Abnormal plant cell growth stimulated by another organism
wasps, midges, aphids & mites
Bacteria, fungi, nematodes
>2000 gall producing-insects in the United States
60% occur on the oak family
Primarily of aesthetic concern
Stem galls may kill shoot

16. Oak Apple Gall Spherical galls on oaks in spring, summer
Alternating wasp generations
Adults emerge from galls, mate, female lays eggs in roots
Female wasps emerge from roots in 2nd spring, lay egg in leaf midrib
Amphibolips confluenta

17. Horned Oak Gall Caused by cynipid wasps Laurel, water, other oaks
One wasp emerges from each “horn”
Horned Oak Gall
Caused by cynipid wasps
Callirhytis spp.
Laurel, water, other oaks
Alternating twig and leaf gall stages
Dense laurel oaks on poor sites

18. Cypress Twig Gall Midge
Spongy galls on ends of new cypress growth
Orange larvae inside, overwinter
Galls drops with foliage in winter

19. Management: galls Appreciate the beauty
Prune and destroy galls containing active life stages
Plant site-appropriate tree species
Conserve natural enemies through limited pesticide use

20. Thanks Again!